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March 31-April 2, 2006 :: Redondo Beach, CA

Dsc00491 A Weekend in Sunny California...
My good friend Logan moved out to Redondo Beach, CA (outside of Los Angeles) in June 2005.  Since then we've been talking about when I could take my first real trip to California (for more than a couple hours over night) :-)  The opportunity surfaced at the last minute one night in the middle of March so I thought to myself, "Why not!  Let's do it!" and to the Internet I went to acquire passage on one of Delta's finest airborne transports to the West Coast. 



Yaris_1 3/31 :: Welcome to LA!
I took off at 10:30a on Friday for the ~five hour flight to LA and through the miracles of time zones, arrived only two hours later in LAX.  Logan swung by in a Toyota Yaris that he was borrowing from work to pick me up.  Now, not to take a small segway or anything, but let me tell you about this little bugger!  It can zip in and out of traffic like a humming bird; it can turn on a dime; and it's also great when flying over steep hills with scary drop offs to get some air ;-)  Not that we'd know...



Logan_1 After picking me up, Logan showed me his place, we went to eat, and then took a drive around the hills over looking the ocean near where he lives.  The word "beautiful" is defined by some of the vistas we saw that day!  I was more than slightly impressed by it all. 



We had a long afternoon of site seeing before heading back to the apartment.  Now, Logan lives straight out on Redondo Beach, so when we got back, we took a pass through the Sea Lab near by, and then went for a stroll on the beach.  We even found an old swing set and took a few pumps on it.  All along we talked and caught up.  I hadn't seen my friend for almost a year! 



Finally heading back, I had to take a nap since the jet lag was starting to catch up.  As typically happens when I take naps, it was hard as all get out to wake up even for dinner, so after we ventured out for that, swapped our little Yaris for Logan's Prius, and headed back, we watched TV for a while and got ready for an even bigger day to come!





Dsc00508_14/1 :: LA, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Burbank, and El Segundo Beach Bonfire
Saturday was my only full day in the Golden State so we were bound and determined to make the most out of it.  We woke up early (partly my fault since I was still three hours in the future psychologically), and started with a tour of the beaches starting from Redondo and going through Manhattan, El Segundo, Vista Del Mar, Santa Monica, Venice, and finally to Malibu.  We continued our journey up through the hills of Beverly taking a driving tour of the houses up there and wondering which one we should put a down payment on :-) 



Since we were so close, and since I just haaad to feel like Julia Roberts in "Pretty Woman", I asked Logan to take us to Rodeo Drive!  We parked, walked around the area, and finally stopped into a cool street-side Italian restaurant for lunch.  The day was gorgeous outside, temperature was just right, and the food was wonderful!  There wasn't much else I could think to ask for! 



Dsc00516 Reuniting With an Old Friend...
Now Logan wasn't the only friend of mine that moved out to Southern California last year.  When we left Rodeo Drive, we went over to The Grove (an outdoors shopping plaza) and met up with Timothy who has been my colleague and friend at GE since internship days!  We took a walk around The Grove, got a coffee at Starbucks (which there are numerous of in CA!!!), and took off to head up to Burbank where we'd ditch Logan's car and head out to see the movie studios together. 



We met up at Timothy's apartment, which is a nice one-bedroom unit near by Universal City.  After a brief tour we hopped in his car and headed out to see Disney's studio to take a look from the outside, and then over to Universal Studios and the City Walk.  The City Walk is a part of Universal Studios that is outside the gates of the theme park.  There are various shops, eateries, and an iMax theater screening Universal movies (surprise).  It was a neat area teaming with people walking around in the setting sunlight squeezing the rest of "today" out of the afternoon. 



Pacific Coast Bonfire...
Logan and I gave our best to Timothy, arranged to meet up for dim sum the next day, and started the journey back south to Redondo Beach.  We arrived in time for our customary meal at Red Lobster before meeting up with some of Logan's work buddies on El Segundo Beach.  The Toyota/Lexus group had put together an impressive bonfire; something I had never been to, especially on the beach of an ocean!  His friends were excellent and we had a great time. 



Dsc00489 One thing I noticed while out there was that it was weird seeing the moon and Orion go below the horizon so early in the night.  Logan mentioned that you can actually watch the moon come up and go down and come up and go down again twice during the normal course of the day out there.  That fascinated me!  However, I could have done with more time with Orion.  He's been watching over me from up there at nights for so long now I miss him when he's gone during the summer months.  Haha, go ahead and laugh :-)  In any event, it was time to head back, get ready for bed, and prepare to return to the East Coast...what a day it had been!  And what a weekend as well!



4/2 :: Home Again Home Again...
Finally Sunday was here and soon so would be my flight back to Atlanta.  We met up with Tim again at the Ocean Star restaurant, which is quoted to have the best dim sum in Los Angeles.  After a great meal, great conversation, and some shared memories, Logan and I headed back towards LAX to get ready for my trip home.  Since we were making remarkable time (we originally figured on a lot more traffic, which, by the way is actually WORSE than traffic in Atlanta for the record) :-) we decided to stop at El Segundo Beach again since it's right next to the airport.  We took one last walk along the water, gabbing all the way.  Before we knew it, though, we were pulling up at the departure gates in LAX and saying good bye.  With very little hassle, I was through security and waiting at the gate.  The flight was fast and uneventful and I was standing on Atlanta soil again in no time...although not for long.  It would only be a couple days before I was heading down to see David (my little brother) in Sarasota, FL...but that's another story... :-)



M@

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